130: Celebrate as a form of protest; anti-racism and multiculturalism with Lori L. Tharps

The Creative Impostor

"Anti-racism work is not about saving the unfortunate; anti-racism work is about saving all of us, improving the lives of all of us." ~Lori L. Tharps

One of the themes to emerge from the not your typical self-care series is connection. Specifically, the idea that pursuing practices that require greater inward focus or offer less obvious immediate gratification creates a ripple effect.

Anti-racism is self-care on a global scale.

If you’re thinking, “Um, Andrea, that’s a bold claim and an unconventional discipline to add to my routine,” let me counter with this: it’s all about mindset. Lori L. Tharps - yes, of Kinky Gazpacho fame - believes that each individual action chips away at a towering problem until our collective efforts topple the entire system.

There’s one critical catch. “If people look at anti-racism work, particularly white people, if they look at it as ‘well, you know, this is charity work for Black people and Brown people and I should just do it because it's the right thing and they need my help,’ that's not the right mindset to go into,” cautions the blogger and host of My American Meltingpot.

On her podcast, Lori approaches the practice of anti-racism with clear-eyed directness, especially in her “Don’t Be Racist” series, recorded in the last half of 2020. In it, she offered some different ways of thinking about how we view the subject through a broader lens, how we incorporate these efforts into our lives, what that may look like - and allowing space for what that may not look like.

Lori’s creative non-fiction style transitions seamlessly from her writing to her show which makes the prospect of dismantling this whole fabricated story of race totally doable.

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Full show notes, resources, opportunities, other podcasts & books mentioned... You can find them here: http://www.thecreativeimpostor.com/130

Hear more about the evolution of Lori's podcast on Podcast Envy (episode releases shortly after this one.)

Get Lori's books from Bookshop.org!

Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain

Same Family, Different Colors: Confronting Colorism in America's Diverse Families

Substitute Me

Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America

Podcast Episodes Mentioned

My American Meltingpot e48: Don’t Be Racist

My American Meltingpot e50: Don’t Be Racist - Take Action

My American Meltingpot e51: Don’t Be Racist - Decolonize Your Mind

CONNECT WITH LORI L. THARPS

My American Meltingpot

Podcast

Instagram

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